#verse_post-tlk

Continued from here.

Now the lion put his eyes on his son. With a gentle laugh, he answered. “I know I will be very proud of you.” Simba smiled with proud eyes. “And yes, I want to be here with you till I can to see you grow up.” Now his expression changed sad a bit. “Unfortunately, my father couldn’t see me grow up, my mother neither.”

The male raised his look again as Kopa did and fixed his gaze on the stars.

“Yes, I do believe that.” Came the definite answer. Simba knew that his father was up there as he had even talked to him once before returing to the Pride Lands. One day he would tell Kopa too about it - when the cub would be older. Maybe Kopa was afraid of ‘ghost stories’ and Simba didn’t want to scare the young cub now.

Roho’s question was clear. Simba had the opportunity now to tell him the truth but honestly, he didn’t want to. One of the reasons was that the lion didn’t want Roho to consider him crazy, the other was Simba didn’t want to gossip.

Seeing his father’s ghost meant a lot to him. This was not something that was needed to be told to every single animal. It was a mystery... A solid secret.

Looking at the sunset, the young adult lion was lost in his thougts. There was a big task that he had to solve: restore the delicate balance in the Pride Lands after Scar’s reign.

But how?

Okay, he was son of a king but... it didn’t mean he could act like a king. It was more than getting your way all the time. The Pride Lands’ fate depended on him now. Him. The lion who had lived in a jungle for years...

But at least, Simba had his mother, his friends and family on his side. And his young queen, Nala, too...

Simba was very angry and - to be honest - disappointed inside. Kopa with Asante? The hyena cub?

The events of the past in Simba’s life was the reason why Simba had so bad opinion about hyenas. They don’t respect the Circle of Life at all, and also, they worked for Scar to kill his father.

What more could you want?

Kopa having Asante as his friend sounded really impossible to Simba. The kind of relationship cannot work. Moreover, Asante’s family can be dangerous and may hurt his son...

“Kopa!” Came the angry voice. “Don’t you understand? Hyenas and lions can not work together! It’s impossible! Asante can not be your friend. What’s more, you could get in trouble, I don’t think her family would tolerate you... They can kill you! Those creatures worked for Scar to murder your grandfather, have you forgotten?”

It was a really difficult day. Well, as king all days were. It’s been a few weeks since he returned and defeated Scar, inheriting a destroyed kingdom... A devastated kingdom what had had its golden age during his father’s reign. And now, his task was to restore the delicate balance and the great Circle of Life after Scar.

And with no experience, it was a really hard work. Simba had to do it “alone”, of course, he had his family and friends on his side, but no one had such a good experience his father had had. But Mufasa was not here - leastwise, not physically. Yes, he had told Simba that he would always be there to guide him, but he just couldn’t show up for Simba all the time.

But now, he needed him so much...

Immersing in his thoughts, Simba soon fell asleep.

The place was unfamiliar to the lion. Trees everywhere and how many of them! But these trees didn’t look like African ones. So it meant to him that he was not in Africa.

He could only remember he was checking around the Pride Lands but he had no idea how he had got here.

“Where am I?” Simba asked more to himself than to anyone as he was alone.